Karnali Province Faces Persistent Budget Implementation Challenges

Surkhet. The main challenge for the Karnali Province government is budget implementation. Every time, the primary agenda of the Ministry of Finance and the leadership of the government is to improve budget implementation. Previously, the current Chief Minister Yamlal Kandel used to say from the opposition bench during the first term of the Provincial Assembly, 'Can't even implement the budget given as grants by the central government?' Now that Kandel himself is leading the government, one of his agendas was to improve budget implementation. He also made efforts. From administrative bodies to ministers, he made them express commitment and also made them sign performance agreements. However, the pace of budget implementation in Karnali has not improved. Instead, the results of budget implementation are weaker than in previous years. Now, a strong question has been raised against those in the government: 'They cannot even implement the budget given as grants by the central government, yet they do not refrain from criticizing the center for not providing enough budget.' More than 95 percent of the annual budget brought by the Karnali government depends on federal grants and revenue sharing. For the upcoming fiscal year (2083/084), the province's share is only 2.40 percent. Looking at the budget implementation data of the past nine fiscal years, the budget implementation has not reached 70 percent in any fiscal year. So far, the Karnali government has brought a budget of 2 kharba 64 arba 34 crore with the support of federal grants. Out of this, the government has only been able to spend 58.92 percent of the total budget. The implementation status of the development budget is even more dire. According to the data, the progress of development budget implementation is only 55.39 percent. See the budget and expenditure status brought by the Karnali Province government since its establishment:

No Improvement in Budget Implementation